Developmental psych- infancy

active learning

learning by doing, trial, and error, intrinsic motivation

passive learning

learning by observing or direct intrusion from caregivers, teachers, etc

empricism

• locke

• children are born as a “tabula rasa” (blank slate)

• children need to be shaped because they are a blank slate

• development is through association, repetition, imitation, reward, and punishment

• environment and society shape child development

nativism

• Rousseau

• innate capacity for developing and learning

• education should be kept at a minimum to allow for the child to grow naturally

• educators should help children make their own discoveries

Piaget and constructivism

• 4 stages of development

• infants gradually construct knowledge of the world and ability to represnt reality mentally

• experience is represented as a schema

Lev Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory

• knowledge arises from social interactions and activity

• language is crucial in the learning process

zone of proximal development

the difference between what a child can do independently and what they can achieve with help

• vygotsky

cross sectional

groups of children of different ages who are studied at the same time

longitudinal

the same group of children is studied at multiple time points

autism screening for adults

mind in the eyes test

• measures the ability to match emotional state to mental state

autism screening for older children

• theory of mind

• ability to take into account the belief of others

autism screening for toddlers

survey for the parent

• can have limitations because it relies on the parent’s observation)

early autism detection

-earlier the detection, the sooner the use of the intervention which can allow symptoms to progress in a different trajectory than it would without the intervention

- recruiting siblings of children diagnosed with ASD can help researchers understand the early signs 

habituation

child’s attention disappears until new stimulus is presented

violation of expectation

looking time indexing surprise

ex: impossible events

eye-tracking method

• identifies a child’s ability to identify an object (using screens)

• measures where they look first, first fixation

• in ASD diagnosed individuals: decline in ability to look at eyes

head-mounted eye tracking method

• used in more neutral conditions

• uses real objectd and no screen

gaze-contingent eye tracker

• curiosity measure

• is there a difference in learning outcomes if the child can choose what they look at/focus on

critique of looking time measures

• what is the operational definition of a look

• do they prefer objects, shapes, etc.)

• assumption that infants understanding is the same as adults

functional MRI

• method in autism research

• brain area activation with certain stimuli present

fNIRS

• for early autism screening

• can choose specific areas to look at

• do not have to stay still in scanner

• tasks including face processing, working memory, joint attention

• measures functional organization in resting-state

EEG

• early autism screening

• longitudinal desin (2-36 months)

• accurate prediction of diagnosis from 3 months

stages of embryoni and fetal development

1. Ovum: just fertilized

2. Zygote: first two weeks of life

3. Embryo: beginning of 3rd week to the 2nd month

4. Foetus: 2-3 months of gestation until birth

age of viability

• between 22-26 weeks of gestation

• fetuses systems are developed (reflexes, open and close eyes)

• if born prematurely (before 37 weeks) the chances of survival are high

prenatal brain development

• neurons form in the first half of pregnancy

teratogens

Teratogens (alcohol, smoking, mental health, physical health, malnutrition) all interfere with mother’s health and simultaneously impact fetus’s health

transnatal learning

learning that occurs during the prenatal period which is remembered during the postnatal period

fetal smell and taste

-maternal food alters flavor of amniotic fluid (mother’s food selection can control what fetus is exposed to)

-newborns at 6 days recognize their mother’s breast milk after another mother’s

fetal hearing

-auditory system matures between 23-25 weeks to detect frequencies

- fetuses respond to external stimuli (through movement, kicking, and freezing)

- can recognize mother’s voice

postnatal auditory perception

-newborns prefer listening to mother’s voice

- prefer listening to the language they heard in the womb, compared to another language

-can recognize stories read to them in the womb

high amplitude dummy sucking

-habituation paradigm: there is a difference in sucking rate in experimental vs. control condition 

-used to assess an infant’s sensitivity to stimuli differences

-shows if they detect the stimulus change

Ex: a mother read the same book 2x/day for the last 6 weeks of pregnancy 

• Key finding: infants modified their rates of sucking in the direction that produced the familiar story

development of fetal vision

-optic nerve formed by 9 weeks

-eyelids sealed from 8-22 weeks but they can see through their eyelids

face preference study

-fetus is exposed to top down, bottom up lights  that can be traced to a face shape (eyes, mouth)

-fetus turns to face “face-like” configuration compared to “non-face like” 

-is face recognition present in fetuses?

when do infants display physical and motor development

-organized embryonic behaviors at 8-12 weeks of gestation

(expanding and contracting lungs, kicking feet, bending arms, sucking thumb, etc.)

-all core physical characteristics are in place by 7 months

newborn motor development compared to other mammals

-newborns have poor motor skills compared to other mammals

-they exhibit reflexes (grasping, stepping, sucking, rooting, swallowing, breathing)

a stage

• descriptive view point, the what

-maturational

a process

 explanatory viewpoint, the how

-dynamic systems theory

what is the stage viewpoint of motor development

• The biological, genetic, “unfolding of neural development”

• Evidence: similar developmental milestones across cultures 

• Puts motor behaviors into ranked sequences

Cephalo-caudal development

• motor development progression milestone

• control of the head and neck before lower torso and feet

• lift head, sit, walk

proximal-distal development

• motor development progression milestone

• control of shoulder before wrist before fingers

• bat at an object, directed reach, grasp

stage view criticisms

• No way to account for discontinuities in performance with relation to development and environment

• How can you explain regressions in motor development

• Does attaining the milestones actually mean anything (in relation to long term motor development or social development?)

dynamic systems theory

• process view

• Interaction between individual, environment, and maturational systems, resulting in affordances or constraints

dynamic systems view: walking

• all systems in the child’s life are ready and interacting (emotional, motivational, anatomical)

stage view: walking

physical maturity led the child to walk and it is just them completing the next stage in their development

effect on language development

-early walkers are usually early talkers

-they have a greater opportunity to explore their environment and discover new objects and expand their vocabulary

embodied

•  forces act on the body (gravity, friction, forces, ground reaction force)

• An infant's physical characteristics, abilities, and developmental stage affect how they interact with the world.

embedded

• embedded in the perceived affordances of the environment (ex: steep slope)

• Variations in the environment create and constrain possibilities for action 

• Example: A baby may crawl easily across a flat floor but struggle on a steep or slippery surface. Their abilities must adapt to their surroundings.

enculturated

• Can be hindered or facilitated by socio-cultural practices

• Motor behaviors are influenced by caregivers, social interactions, cultural practices, and the experiences available to children.

enabling

• movement enables new developments

• Example: Learning to walk allows a toddler to explore more independently, encounter new objects, interact with more people, and gain new information about their surroundings. 

perceptual narrowing

 a result of neuroplasticity, a domain-general multisensory cognitive mechanism

• Also applies to face perception: non-native race

an infant’s language-general capacity

Infants can discriminate differences between speech sounds (different languages) before they develop their language- specific speech

Universal phonestic perception

-an experiment where the infant hears repeating background sounds and are conditioned to turn their head to a visual reinforcer when there was a change in speech sound category

-there were 3 age groups

- 3 languages (english, hindi, and salish)

- the phenome distinction was consonant contrasts (native vs non-native sounds)

object permanence

 the object does not exist when it is not in sight

• According to piaget:

-1 month: only look at objects in front of them

-18-24 months: full object permanence is acquired 

The A not B error

• It tests whether the child has object permanence and if they can find hidden objects

• It requires the infant to search for a hidden object

• Infants below 8 months will not search for the object

• Infants between 9-12 months will search in the wrong location

• Location A becomes habituated and they will still look there even though the object is hidden in plain sight

the violation of expectation

• was developed to investigate object permanence in infants younger than 9 months

• Infants will typically look longer at the impossible which shows they have a representation of the objects

• Looking time is used as evidence in understanding the event was surprising

• Question: if infants younger than 8 months display object permanence according to VOE then why do they not even search for hidden objects

A not B error: Integrative executive functioning explanation

• Frontal cortex immaturity

-lack of ability in problem solving and critical thinking because the frontal cortex is maturing slowly

A not B error: Dynamic systems theory explanation

• Repeatedly hiding object in location A highlights the importance of location A

-location A is in the child’s mind more strongly

      - if infants can search without delay, they reach for location B

• There was also a difference when the infant was sitting during trials vs. when they were standing for the trials

• Role of communication also had an effect

- when the researcher was ostensive (making eye-contact and social) the babies did the worse with the task because they might think of it as a game and think less rationally

“mobile contingency experiments”

• 3 month olds can remember to move a mobile one week after learning how (shorter delay)

• By six months they can remember the task two weeks later (with a longer delay)

how does brain development explain infantile amnesia

their hippocampus is not fully mature until 3-4 yrs

how does linguistic development explain infantile amnesia

 language is necessary for forming memories

how does emotional development explain infantile amnesia

 emotion schemes help represent memories

examples that show Infant memory limitations

• When tested in a different crib with different visual cues they do not remember how to make the mobile move

• A not B error: if the infant did not have the delay they would look at the new location

infant long-term recall examples

• Remembering the same procedure had better outcomes for grabbing at the sound object later on

• Babies exposed to the “still-face” mother at 5 months old could remember it at 20 months old

procedural memories

•  memories specific to situation in which the initial event occurs

• Embodied

• Even slight differences may disrupt memories

conceptual memories

• rooted in verbal descriptions, dependent on semantic knowledge and adults’ scaffolding

-scaffolding by others can increase the rate and quality of recall

Piaget on early communication

• Egocentric stage: language is aimed at self-directed speech rather than communication of thought which disappears with development

• Socialized stage: language clearly directed towards someone else

-dialogue is when language develops into a tool of communication with others

Vygotsky on early communication

• Language is inherently communicative 

• Self-directed and social language are merged into egocentric and communicative language and remain throughout life

• Internalized language remains as a private monologue

still face paradigm in language development

-the infant attempted to get mother to communicate with her through verbal and nonverbal cues

- the infant aimed to restore the effective interaction with her mothe

Ostensive communication

-human communication is ostensive

-ostensive cues: child-directed speech, saying a person’s name, eye contact, contingent responsivity

dyadic interactions

mother and baby

triadic interactions

mother, baby, and an object

infant-directed speech

• “Baby-talk”

• High pitch, exaggerated intonation

• Slow and stretchy speech

• Repetition

-natural and social pressures on how to talk to a baby

visual cliff paradigm: in social interactions

• The mother poses non verbal cues (ex: fearface) to encourage/discourage child to cross

• It helps child make a decision

• The baby is aware the mother is aware of the situation and that she can help make decisions when the baby is uncertain

• social referencing

social referencing (in visual cliff paradigm)

• using the parent’s emotions to assess a novel situation

joint attention (JA)

• the ability to understand someone else is paying attention to an object

-it creates a triadic interaction

• 4 types

RJA

 responding to JA bids from others

-ex: following another person’s gaze and pointing

IJA

initiating JA via developmentally available communicative behaviors: social referencing, pointing, vocalizing

• Ex: Pointing to share attention

IBR

initiating behavioral regulation/requests- instrumental function (via reaching, pointing, vocalizing)

• Ex: Pointing to ask for obtaining an object out of reach

RBR

responding to behavioral requests (via reaching and pointing)

• Ex: Following an adult’s open palm “give it to me” gesture

impact on conversational turns

• Successful conversational turns are rooted in joint attention and caregivers contingent responsivity

• Conversational turns affect brain connectivity and are predictive of later language development outcomes and IQ

• Shows brain connectivity between language regions of the brain (causes strength of white matter connectivity in these pathways)

socio-emotional communicative intention

 non-informational needs

-ex: wanting to be fed/diaper changed

-based on emotion (sad and wants to be picked up)

imperative communicative intention

instrumental, or requisites (get me that)

declarative communicative intention

sharing attention or interest (look at that)

information-seeking communacative intention

seeking information from more knowledgable others (ex: parent, caregiver)

informative communicative intention

 providing information to less knowledgeable others

-communicating what they want/don’t want

pointing as information-seeking example

• Pointing with intention to seeking info leads to a better learning outcome

• Infant points more when adult was more informative than ignorant about toy labels and functions

• 16 to 18 month olds learned words better after pointing to “ask” for labels